The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-07-27
THE BRAZILIAN GIRL.
Innocent Bears Married at Seven Years.
and Mothers Before They Are Twelve.

Girls are sometimes married so young
in Brazil that they become mothers at
II or Is years OF age, says a writer in
the Brooklyn Magazine. A certain
count was married to his cousin when
neither had yet reached their teens, the
little bride being only z years of age
when the CEREMONY was performed.
This was done by the parents to insure
their fortunes remaining in the family.
A girl is never permitted to 90 ont,
not even to church, unless chaperoned
by one of the family, or some other
lady, generally of mature age. Nothing
could be more colorless than the life of
n young Brazilian woman; she has no
taste whatever for reading, her educa-
ton is of the most meager description,
it not being considered worth while to
educate girls. The necessity for educa-
ting boys is understood by parents, and
those who are able do so, but girl,
what need has she for an education?
They would laugh at such high-flown
ideas, should anyone suggest that their
daughters be given the benefits of an
education rs 4 resource at hand for
their own enjoyment, or that they
might be intelligent companions. capa-
BILE of stimulating the intellects of their
children, and husbands, too, for that
matter.
A very large majority of the Brazilian
girls could not tell who is the emperor
of Germany, or that President Garfield
and the Car of Russia were assas-
sinated; the Soudan or Cen Gordon are
riddles TO their minds. They are very
ignorant of some of the most important
historical facts relating to their own
land, and of the thousand and one other
topics that the women of America and
other countries are generally conversant
with They embroider, crochet, and
study music, but usually lack the pa
thence and application necessary to eX-
eel in the latter. II they want drink
of water or their shoes changed. they
call slave TO do it. Many can sew.
and do their own dress-making, being
very convenient with the needle, their
natural antipathy TO work being over
come by their love of dress. Their con-
versation is utterly frivolous. and when
with familiars they talk very loud, and
in the most animated manner, gesticu-
latlng and beating the air with their
hands and arms. all talking at once,
with seldom anything worth saying
If the Brazilian girl does not marry
at the age when she ought to be play
ing with her dolls, she frequently con-
tinues to play with her dolls until she
does marry. The writer remembers
seeing Il young woman apparently about
Is years of age in a street-car, in the
city of Bahia. with doll in her lap,
which she cared for and handled the
same as little girl would do; and it is
not an unusual thing for young married
women to own and play with these and
similar fixtures of the nursery. One
young woman named Marie had five or
six dolls, upon whose garments she
spent much of her time. When she
married she insisted upon taking them
TO her new nome, but when this bone
became invaded with less tractable
babies she was finally obliged to bury
her inanimate, quondam friends, with
all their finery, in n trunk, probably to
be resurrecied by other little Maries
when they will again be nursed and
made cOutidants of